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America Government, A-Level Revision: President, Congress, Supreme Court. The Presidency. Leaving office – 4 scenarios. 1. Loses election 2. Served two terms. 3. Impeachment 4. Incapacity. The Presidency – Presidential Power. Aaron Wildawsky :
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America Government, A-Level Revision: President, Congress, Supreme Court
The Presidency • Leaving office – 4 scenarios. • 1. Loses election • 2. Served two terms. • 3. Impeachment • 4. Incapacity
The Presidency – Presidential Power • Aaron Wildawsky: • Foreign policy: The president dominates and is able to get their way. • Domestic policy: The president is checked and hampered by competing institutions.
The Presidency – Presidential Power, Foreign Policy • Presidential dominance built into the Constitution but: • War powers • Presidential dominance has increased beyond the constitutional design: • Rise to superpower status raises the stakes. • Supreme Court legitimates presidential dominance. • Congress opts out.
The Presidency – Presidential Power, Domestic Policy • The Constitution makes the president little more than chief bureaucrat. • Today the president has become chief legislator – prepares the budget and brings a programme of legislation to Congress. • Presidents can also issue Executive Orders. • And they have the veto
The Presidency – Presidential Power, Domestic Policy • The power to persuade (Neustadt). • In order to succeed a president has to persuade other institutions and actors to cooperate because the presidency does not possess the authority to command them to do so.
The Presidency – Presidential Power, Domestic Policy • Leadership skills (Greenstein): • Understanding Congress and knowing how to cut a deal and who with. • `Going public’ to win public support to pressure Congress. • Prioritization.
The Presidency – Presidential Power, Domestic Policy • The political environment: • Who controls Congress? • Public opinion ratings. • Honeymoon period or lame-duck?
The Presidency – Presidential Power, Domestic Policy • An `imperilled presidency’? • End of the Cold War. • Decentralization of power in Congress. • Divided government. • Increased partisan polarization. • A more hostile media.
The Presidency – Presidential Power, Domestic Policy • But: • The War Powers Act is a dead letter. • The `War on Terror’. • Divided government has not prevented legislation passing. • The president is still in the strongest position to use (manipulate) the media.
The Presidency: The Veto • When presented with legislation passed by both houses of Congress, the president is constitutionally required to act on it in one of four ways: • 1.Sign it into law within 10-days. • 2. Issue a regular veto • 3. Let the bill become law without his signature. • 4. Issue a "pocket" veto.
The Presidency: The Veto • A powerful weapon – only 0.7% have been overturned. • But a negative weapon – can’t be used to enact what the president wants. • Veto power is a negotiating tool, an actual veto is a sign of miscalculation.
The Presidency: The Veto • Veto power is a negotiating tool, an actual veto is a sign of miscalculation. • Most vetoes have been of trivial bills rather than major ones. • Only 2% of bills have ever been vetoed but rate varies enormously – Gerald Ford vs George W. Bush.
Congress: Powers of the House and Senate • 435 members elected from districts of equal size. • Elected every two years. • Intended to be the most powerful branch. • Size and diversity means more formal rules than Senate and stronger party leadership. • Most important figure is the Speaker – leader of the majority party. He/she controls the legislative agenda and shapes membership of committees.
Congress: Powers of the House and Senate • 100 members, 2/state. • Elected every 6 years (1/3 every 2 years). • Represents the states and meant to act as a brake on the popular passions represented in the House. • Small numbers mean fewer rules and weaker party structures – a more individualised chamber. • One unique rule – the filibuster, can only be halted if 60 senators support a motion of cloture.
Congress: The Role of Parties • Party Weakness: • Separation of powers – `no’ votes do not bring down governments. • Members of Congress do not seek promotion to the executive branch. • Committee autonomy. • Autonomy of legislators during the election process (primaries). • Constituency orientation of legislators.
Congress: The Role of Parties • Party strength: • Role and strength of party has grown in past 20 years: • Key cause – partisan polarization caused by: • 1. Partisan realignment of the South. • 2. Resulting changed behaviour of members in Congress.
Congress: The Role of Parties • Increased partisan unity and polarisation means: • Most legislators vote with the rest of their party the large majority of the time. • Stronger party leadership. • Increased power of the Speaker. • Congress displays `conditional party government’.
Congress: Voting Behaviour • The need to get re-elected. • But – different systems = different responses, historically. • UK – tow the party line • US – meet constituent needs, regardless of party line. • Partisan polarization changes this, serving constituents and voting with party are usually the same thing.
The Supreme Court: Judicial Activism • What is judicial activism? • Black's Law Dictionary: a "philosophy of judicial decision-making whereby judges allow their personal views about public policy, among other factors, to guide their decisions” • Not very useful – describes all justices.
The Supreme Court: Judicial Activism • What is judicial activism: • The opposite of judicial restraint – a Court which chooses to hear politically controversial cases and makes broad, constitutionally significant rulings . • The kind of rulings that might be involved are things like overturning existing laws as unconstitutional, overturning precedents and ruling against a generally preferred interpretation of the constitution.
The Supreme Court: Judicial Activism • Associated with the Warren Court (Brown vs Board of Education, 1954) and therefore with liberalism/modernism. • But: Bush vs Gore (2000); Citizens United (2010).
